FONTANA, Calif. -- In a race that seemed destined to never end, Jimmie Johnson ran second in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Auto Club 500 on Monday at newly renamed Auto Club Speedway.

A little more than 21 hours after the green flag waved to start the race Sunday, Carl Edwards took the checkered flag under caution with the two-time defending Cup champion in tow. The race was red-flagged twice, the second time for nearly 16 hours after rain and humidity foiled NASCAR's efforts to dry the racing surface at the two-mile track.

Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon ran third, while former teammate Kyle Busch claimed the fourth finishing position. The runner-up finish propelled the driver of the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet to eighth in the Cup points standings, 68 behind Busch, the leader.

"Let's go out there and have fun today," crew chief Chad Knaus radioed to Johnson and the rest of the Lowe's team on Sunday afternoon as the cars rolled off pit road. "I think it's going to be a good day to race."

The good day, however, turned into a long night as water seeped up through the racetrack and fell from the sky. In fact, as he took his pace laps, Johnson registered concern about "weepers" -- places where water was seeping through the seams in the racing surface -- in both sets of corners.

"There's water running out of the cracks I'm going over in (turns) 1 and 2," Johnson radioed as he circled the track in the first starting position. "Some pretty good gushers."

"10-4," Knaus acknowledged.

Compounding the problem was Michael Waltrip's No. 55 Toyota, which had a loose oil line.

"There's oil and water all over the racetrack," Johnson said as he continued around the speedway. "All the way down the tri-oval. Boy, we've got a lot of water in 3 and 4. I don't know what they did. It's running out of the track. The other day (during Saturday's rain-shortened practice), I didn't see it in 1 and 2, just 3 and 4. Now it's doing it in both."

"They're blowing it off," radioed spotter Stevie Reeves from his perch atop the main grandstand. "Still looks pretty wet."

"Just remember," Knaus cautioned, "this happened to us a couple years ago at Richmond, when the 42, I think, forgot a drain plug, and we nearly crashed entering the first corner."

As the Lowe's Chevy approached the green flag, Knaus added, "Check your seat belts, check your steering wheel, make sure you're comfortable."

"All right, tighten 'em up, coming to green, have a good 'un," echoed Reeves.

Gordon shot past his teammate into the lead on the first lap, and Matt Kenseth got past Johnson for second place. But the Lowe's Chevy regained the second position a lap later, and Gordon and Johnson ran 1-2 until Denny Hamlin rolled across a wet spot and slammed the turn 4 wall on lap 14.

"Jimmie, do you feel the splitter touching?" Knaus asked as the No. 48 team prepared for its first pit stop.

"I feel something, and I'm sure that must be it, but it's not affecting the handling of the car," Johnson replied. "Where I'm ending up here is a little tight in the center."

Accordingly, Knaus called for an air-pressure adjustment and a round up on the panhard bar on the first stop. Quick work on pit road got Johnson out ahead of Gordon and into the lead. That marked the 11th straight race Johnson has led at least one lap, the longest such streak of his career.

Lap 21 brought another caution for a wreck that crippled the cars of Hendrick teammates Casey Mears and Dale Earnhardt Jr. along with the Dodges of Reed Sorenson and rookie Sam Hornish Jr., whose absence from the track would mean an easier pit entry for Johnson.

"You've got an open pit box behind you," Knaus reminded his driver.

NASCAR red-flagged the race after lap 21 to work on the seepage problems in the corners by cutting drainage grooves from the seams to the bottom of the track.

"Are the rain clouds coming toward us or away from us?" Johnson asked, noting that the sky had darkened.

"It was raining pretty hard over there (toward the mountains) when the race started," Reeves answered. "It's pretty much on the edge."

"They're going to bring you guys around, bring you down pit road, get out of the car, whatever," Reeves added.

Once on pit road, Johnson climbed from his car and talked with Gordon as TV cameras found actor Tom Cruise standing next to Knaus on the No. 48 pit box.

Apparently, the drainage grooves had the desired effect, because after the cars rolled at the end of a one-hour, seven-minute stoppage, Johnson radioed to Knaus: "It's a lot better than it was before. I'll tell you how 3 and 4 look when I get down there. There's some water there, but it's still better than when we started the race."

Gordon retook the lead from his teammate after the restart on lap 26. On lap 33, with the Lowe's Chevy still running second, Knaus asked, "What have you got there, bud?"

"A little snug in the center and loose off," Johnson replied.

Gordon developed a problem with debris on the grille of his No. 24 Chevy, causing oil and water temperatures to reach dangerous levels. He turned to his teammate for help.

"I think the 24's going to fall back," Knaus told his driver. "He's got debris on the grille."

Gordon dropped back behind the Lowe's Chevy until the debris was blown from the grille, then re-passed Johnson for the lead on lap 37.

Rain brought the third caution of the race two laps later, and during the ensuing pit stops, Johnson again beat Gordon out of the pits and assumed the race lead.

Before the stop, Johnson had described his handling as "snug in the center when I get on the gas," prompting Knaus to recommend dropping the panhard bar one round during the four-tire stop.

After exiting the pits, Johnson predicted, "We're going to lose the track pretty quick," noting that the rain had begun to fall harder.

"It's raining pretty solid here, too," Knaus replied from his post at the end of pit road.

"I wish they'd call the race so we could run the whole race tomorrow," Knaus said wistfully.

"The 24 about spun me out," Johnson exclaimed after the rain abated and the field restarted on lap 48. Though Gordon had taken the lead from his teammate once again, Johnson was pleased with the handling of his car.

"I've got the grip that I need," he told Knaus on lap 53. "The balance of the car is really good. I need it to turn a little better through the center, but it's really good."

"Jimmie, be careful going into turn 1," Knaus warned. "Take the high line. The 70 (Jeremy Mayfield) just started smoking."

Lap 57 brought the fourth caution of the race, for debris, and a pit stop for four tires and fuel.

On lap 70, under caution for Elliott Sadler's brush with the wall, Johnson told Knaus, "Tending to be a little snug in the center."

During the pit stop that followed, Jamie McMurray and J.J. Yeley stayed on the track and Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick each took two tires, dropping Johnson to fifth for the restart on lap 74.

"Obviously, 16 (Biffle) and 29 (Harvick) took two (tires)," Knaus said. "You and Jeff took four."

"Only 180 laps to go!" was Knaus' tongue-in-cheek comment a lap later. "The 26 (McMurray) and 96 (Yeley) did not pit, 16 and 29 took two. I believe the 18 (Kyle Busch) took four, but he may have taken two. The 18's pretty fast, the way he cuts through the field. Watch the outside on this restart."

Under green on lap 78, Reeves warned his driver, "There's a light mist again, Jimmie."

Johnson had moved into second position by lap 79. He was following Biffle through turn 2 when he radioed, "The 16 just hit the wall." But the handling on Biffle's car didn't fall off noticeably.

The rain began to fall again in earnest, and NASCAR called a caution on lap 83. Once again, the Lowe's Chevy regained the lead with a quick pit stop, and after lap 87 -- in a downpour -- the sanctioning body red-flagged the race for the second time.

"Jimmie, you're coming down pit road," Reeves said.

"Get the car cover," ordered Knaus. "It's raining really hard now. We've lost the track, NASCAR."

"We should call the race one-third of the way through and just go home," Johnson suggested facetiously.

"If that was an option, I'd take it," Knaus replied.

Ultimately, the Lowe's team did go home -- but only temporarily. After the downpour and subsequent futile attempts to dry the track in high humidity, NASCAR called the race just after 11 p.m. PT and scheduled the conclusion for 10 a.m. Monday morning.

After three laps under caution, Johnson led the field to the green flag at the end of a red-flag period that had lasted 15 hours, 54 minutes and 49 seconds.

"It looks a lot like it did last night," Johnson said, referring to the dampness in the corners. "A little better, but still weepy."

"Wiggle those tires a little bit. Pull that steering wheel, and check your belts," Reeves said. "You'll have 160 laps to go when you take the green."

"Let's refocus, take care of business and take that trophy home," Johnson exhorted his team.

"Second and third place are running about another lane up from where you were right there," Reeves told Johnson on lap 103, indicating the different lines other cars were running.

On lap 109, Reeves got more specific with respect to second-place Kyle Busch. "He's running the top at both ends. The 9 (third-place Kasey Kahne) is running the top in (turns) 3 and 4 and the bottom in 1 and 2."

"The fast car is the 9," Knaus added.

By lap 113, Johnson had opened a lead of more than 2.3 seconds over Busch and began catching lapped traffic. "We're going to make a small air-pressure adjustment (on the next pit stop)," Knaus said.

Johnson brought the Lowe's Chevy to the pits on lap 122, and after the field cycled through the round of green-flag stops, Johnson remained in the lead. "You've got a four-second lead," Knaus informed his driver on lap 126, one lap past the halfway point.

"As the pressures build, I'm starting to get some of the security back," Johnson reported on the handling. "It's a little edgy at the start."

Caution flew on lap 135 for Jeff Burton's scrape with the turn 3 wall. Kyle Busch won the race off pit road, with Johnson second.

"A couple behind you there took two (tires), Jimmie," Reeves said, referring to Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth.

Johnson chased Busch for the next green-flag segment of the race, but without success. "It's a little too loose to really catch him," Johnson radioed to Knaus.

The Lowe's Chevy regained the lead under caution for Michael Waltrip's spin on lap 160, but he lost it during a lap 170 pit stop during which the team made a series of adjustments to the handling of the car.

When the field took the green on lap 172, Johnson was eighth.

On lap 187, Johnson radioed, "I'm really free in (turn) 2."

"Keep digging, man," Knaus replied. "We'll get you fixed up here on the last set of stops."

Three laps later, the handling had improved. "Center (of the corner) is responding well at both ends," Johnson said. "A little free off."

"Keep digging," Knaus insisted. "You're catching everybody except the 99 (Edwards, the race leader). You can do this."

"The center's giving up a little now," Johnson told Knaus on lap 199. "It's starting to get tight."

"You're about eight and a half seconds behind the leader now," Knaus replied. "You're going to pit in about 10 laps."

After a cycle of green-flag stops that concluded on lap 212, Johnson had driven the Lowe's Chevy to fourth position. Then Jeremy Mayfield brought out the 11th caution of the race on lap 220, and Johnson took the lead again when his crew performed a lightning-fast pit stop under caution.

On a restart on lap 225, Johnson led Gordon, McMurray and Edwards to the stripe. Thirteen laps later, Edwards was battling Johnson for the lead. On lap 238, Edwards completed a pass through turns 1 and 2, only to watch Johnson surge back to the front in turn 3. Johnson won a drag race to the start-finish line to lead lap 238, but Edwards took the point for good a lap later and pulled away for the win.

The race ended under caution after Dale Jarrett spun on the white-flag lap.

"I'm proud of you guys," Johnson told the Lowe's team after the race. "We'll go to Vegas and be better yet. Nothing to be ashamed of. I know we wanted that trophy, but nothing to be ashamed of."